Tuesday, July 31, 2007

So, yesterday Munchflower IM's me and tells me she's doing Harlequin skins, and would I like to make a hat or something...? The answer is yes, and I was working on the hat so quickly I finished it before noon.

Deliciousness, pure deliciousness. I feel like a Super Villain in this hat. It's 100% sculpty (so it isn't flexi at all), and has even sculpted bells, which can be seen if you camera in really close. I found the most wonderful sound of a gentle jingle of bells, which as the picture says is activated on touch, not just willy nilly. Unless you have crazy annoying friends who keep jingling your bells. Yes, other folks can jingle you, and you can offer them a merry jingle, because that's part of the fun XD

Currently this fabulous hat is only available in black and white with silver bells. but my mind is open to doing color with black and gold bells as an option. For now you can IM me if you like and I'll whip up a custom for you, but right now it looks so darn good in black and white I can't bear to color it (and what's tinting for anyway?).

So Munchflower passed me the beautiful and fanciful skin I'm wearing in that delicious picture, and she just happened to release her skins today too :)As you can see... she approves of the hat

Monday, July 30, 2007

So today the grid is absolutely batty beyond any memory I could have of it... everything is down, leaving me to sit and organize my inventory and chat. Happily, I did accomplish some nifty things yesterday. I would just love to release them, except naturally no one would be able to come buy it, enjoy it, or see it. So they'll be waiting until the grid behaves itself.

The first thing I did was a bouquet for that delicious contest, but it's only nine prims!! I overdid myself a bit on the economy, I'll probably sell it as a yummy home furnishing if you guys like.

Mmmmm puuuurple... Haven't quite decided if that's the texture I want for my lillies, but I think you'll agree it's beautiful, but maybe not a prize winner. So I'll be playing with more fun ideas >=)

Also worth sharing is yesterday I got a request for a mask fit for furries, just a basic one. I ended up modding the Columbina sculpt and being able to do it easily! In like, 10 minutes I think. I don't own a furry myself, but I was able to fit it to the default Linden provided furry head and oddly enough, it seems to fit most furry heads beautifully with just a couple of minor stretching adjustments. Such is the hardness with which I rooooock. Just opened up the eyes a lot, and widened the nose a lot, but now it fits (from the customer and a friend who had furries) Luskwood avatars and Lost Furest avatars, as well as the default Linden one, and should fit pretty much all of the anime-inspired furry heads.

Munchflower (of Nomine) IM'ed me yesterday and told me she was planning absolute deliciousness... Harlequin/Pierrot inspired skins. So just the very mention of this zoomed something on my List up to the top. I made the most adorable jester's hat. I really do mean that this thing is just so darned lovable. I put a very simple script inside it to play a sound on touch, and found the most perfect bell sound on a peer-share site. So all of yesterday I was asking people to jingle my hat, and I imagine you will be too when you put it on. It really is absolutely fabulous... like all of my hats :) I passed Munch one of the hats that she inspired, and she gave me the perfect skin to wear with it >=)

With all of these absolutely crazy problems on SL, it's actually the perfect time for me to do something I very rarely do. I started updating my SLX items! I had some absolutely ancient masks on there that I've long since retired to the 5L pile, and almost none of my best and most popular works. So I've been working on that today, as well as finishing up reading Harry Potter with my fiance. Yes... Siyu is a Potter fan... >.> As if her love of fabulous hats and flowy capes hadn't given it all away already XD

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Ask, and you shall recieve! I've gotten a few requests for putting these out, and so here they are. Available in the usual twenty colors, as copy and transfer, as well as something a little different... I've set 12 transferable red ones aside to buy in a pack, to pass out to friends and flirts! If you'd like to buy a set of 12 in a different color just let me know, I don't have anything against other colors I just happen to hate boxes.

So these came along with some news about a contest!! Apparently 1-800-Flowers.com is doing a big contest, (and I mean big), where you submit original bouquet designs that have to be around 30 prims or less. Now if that wasn't a fun enough thing to make my ears perk up... the first prize is 100,000 lindens. For some perspective, that's over 350 dollars.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

I wasn't feeling too well yesterday and today, had some sort of odd bug, and it's kept me from being productive lately. However, it didn't stop me from doing a photoshoot that had been stuck in my brain for a while. I needed an awful lot of preparation (the perfect wings, the perfect setting, the perfect details), but it was very, very worth it.

I was wearing my black Nomine skin with the "constellation pattern" on it for once (I normally wear the plain version). I was shopping for jewelry with the fabulously gay Tomoyuki Batra, and he passed me a snap he had taken of me trying on some new diamonds, simply titled "Siyu is the Sky with Stars".

And that inspired me to be Nox

Nox

Nox, also called Nyx, was the primordial goddess of night in Greek and Roman mythology. She was feared even by Zeus, and she was the mother of many, many gods and goddesses. Amongst them were Hypnos, god of Sleep, Aether, god of air, Hemera, goddess of Morning, Oniros, god of Dreams, and Thanatos, god of Death. If anyone was considered a mother goddess, it was she. This is my vision of her.

Nox's Embrace

Nox's Orb

Nox's Flight

There was some editing done to the pictures to pick up the lights, contrast her, and blend her into a field of stars. I also created that headpiece especially for these pictures, and the necklace happens to have an interesting story as well. A fellow artist on SL (who's been around much longer) named Random Calliope, decided to create a set of jewelry created out of all of the major constellations. She strung them together, and you can actually pick out the different ones if you look close enough. I thought it was extremely appropriate to wear the set (necklace, earrings and bracelet) for these. Siyu was completely nude for the pictures, however I managed through clever photo-shopping and picking the right places to blend to make that not even noticeable, much less an issue. I do strongly suggest that you click these to make them larger, and enjoy the detail of them. I had very big shoes to fill after those geisha pictures ;)

Monday, July 23, 2007

As was the assumed, and somewhat inevitable result of my success at mirroring sculpted prims... here they are. Delicious, wicked, mischievous and silly: HORNS

I'll just say that after Kala Bijoux (the genius behind Material Squirrel) told me how to make them mirrored, the next hardest thing was naming them. I decided to name them after what it sort of made me feel like doing while wearing them, and so all of the names are various verbs! With these names came some adorable pictures. There are 7 types of horns, all available for 45L each, so get ready for picture overload!!

Needless to say.... I had a lot of fun doing these pictures. And the horns, naturally, but the pictures top it all off so cutely! All of these horns can be shrunk, but I made them a size that they stand out from moderate-to-fluffy hair. I've made them in these five loverly materials:

Personally, I don't see why anyone would ever buy anything other than the black horns, but that's just me. Sometimes you need some contrast going, I'll admit!

I also put a heading in under neath the "sculpted horns" description as you can see, saying "Stretch 'Em, Squash 'Em, Smush 'Em!" and I really mean it! I mean it so much, that I detailed out a huge long note card explaining how to customize them, set behind this board right here:This is the first board I've ever done like this, using screenshots rather than snap shots, and I'm really happy with how official I've managed to pretend to be! Wow, don't I look professional!

I made the mistake of drifting off after reading the new Harry Potter book with my fiance Alex, and woke up about 5 minutes late to my own party! I rushed online, naturally, and hurried to get music up while the lovely Candy Flanagan attempted to entertain the guests that had shown up by making armpit noises or something. After things got settled in, attendance was modest, and hovered around 5 to 6 guests. The folks that showed up made me feel rather embarassed at my own lack of too much preparation, but that soon ended after the hilarity got going

Kenn Szondi especially (the model for the Cap'n Jack) stood out in his black and white, perfectly matching the tablecloth, and Norathiel Silvera (crowned Oberon at the Midsummer Masque) was quite charming in a floppy top hat and red and black plaid. There was a delicious assortment of hattastic folk, but mostly it was a low key and playful get together of fun folk!

Which slowly got a little crazier as we got in to the darker depths of our inventories, somewhere around the 4th hour...

Flea Bussy popped by and dropped BUBBLE PIPES on us all!! How could we resist those!?Naturally the idea of what could be considered a hat was greatly stretched:

We actually kept going for almost 8 hours or more, just organizing, sorting, swapping, goofing off, playing Kriket bowling (throwing Kriket Pimpernel at crates), and wearing turkeys on our heads. And I'm very happy to report, i can see the bottom of my objects folder! I had 28k items this morning, and now I've slimmed myself to a nice, trim 26k. Lol, ok, not much of a difference to you maybe, but most of those 2000 items were in one folder. Hence my rejoicing!!

According to the other folks, it was a mixed blessing, seeing as how they both gave away and got quite a lot of inventory, so most people just stayed where they had started... but with things that they were happier with :)

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Suuuccceeeesss!!

I have hooorns!! The sculpted dilemma has an end! The indomitable Kala Bijoux answered my cry for help with winning advice, and so she'll be getting some goodies. And some other fun things that I can release soon! HURRAY! I've had a pair of elf ears that I sculpted a while back molding in my inventory, and now I finally am faced with the dilemma of how to sell them so that they'll match skin tones! (I'm thinking maybe a couple standards, tan, pale, black, etc, (all lighter than normal) and a plain white version all for easy tinting.

Today I also worked on a Burqa hood, or some sort of big flowy head veil, so far I'm having trouble knowing where to stop. Do I make it a whole Burqa? so far that isn't working, but then on the other hand stopping it at the top of the tummy looks a bit odd (but would it with the right dress?). Just the usual nitpicking things...

Oh and did I tell you? The Carnivale sim has been moved on the map, so teleports have been crazy and misdirecting, and will be, until the map refreshes, which might be a week. So I have a little sign where the most common spawn point is, offering a landmark and an explanation. Carnivale now borders the sim that has Vanessa Noarlunga's private home: Lady Mask. Apparently Vanessa has ordered up some neighbors for Carnivale, 4 to be exact. Right now we aren't sure quite where they will be in relation to the two ones now, but since I've expressed a desire to keep my beautiful sea scape, she's generously offered to give me the option of moving if it turns out I'm squished in between two other sims. There's a possibility of a move, so don't start packing your bags until we find out how those other four sims come out.

In RL news, my wrists have been starting to hurt a bit more, and my veins are swelling on the top of my hands... so I might have to take a break for a little. I might not be on as much for the next two days, please forgive, but a healthy Siyu is a happy Siyu, and a happy Siyu is a productive Siyu!

Today was a day for little touch-ups, because my creativity was feeling a bit burnt out. I redid the bulletin board at the teleport, so now there's boards that give links to the Flickr group and the blog (yay!), as well as a label "upcoming events" over the other side. I redid my landmark giver for my off site vendors, and lowered the prices on all of my top hats (except the Mad Hatter). I realize that there's definitely a mental shift that comes over a vendor when they start to do better. For a while I never understood why or how on earth Bare Rose could charge so little for what was obviously so much work, or why Last Call and Pixel Dolls charged the same for incredible work as a mediocre vendor did for something boring and unoriginal (and poorly executed). I realize that when I was starting out, if I got anyone at all in my store, I had to make their presence seriously count for something. I had to live off one or two transactions of 500L, rather than now, which is obviously more transactions of fewer $L. So I am able to give, thanks to my higher traffic and my up-and-comingness, my lovely things to you for less!! hurray!!!

I made something funny today for the Nessa, which I'll be sharing with you:

Ski mask!! It needs some touching up on the texture and maybe the mesh before it's ready for sale, but I just thought it was funny. Gimme all your lindens! (I say this in an elegant evening gown).

Today's very big project however, has been spending hours and hours trying to conquer a problem I've been having with sculpted prims. As I probably have mentioned before, I use a combination of Zbrush 3 and Maya. I make my sculpts in Zbrush, export as an .obj, import in Maya and then export as the sculpt map. Some people might have noticed that I haven't made any "mirrored" sculpts, that is, two objects that when facing each other, mirror each other. This is because of a nasty glitch:

Ok not the unibrow and moustache glitch. But if you will kindly direct your eye to the purple circle, you'll see that the mesh of the horn seems a little odd. It actually has turned completely inside out, with a transparent effect on the outside (like when you texture the inside of a hollow object, but make the outside transparent). I've done so much reading about this tonight, and I've only been able to fix it for when it happens inside of Zbrush, not whatever is happening between it and Maya and Maya and SL. I've tried inverting colors in Photoshop, negative scale in maya, doubling mesh and flipping pixols in Zbrush, and I'm running out of ideas. If this has ever happened to you or you happen to know anything at all about what could be causing this, oh lordy please IM me in world or leave a comment or SOME thing. As it is, it seems almost ungooglable, because there's nothing involving all three together. So I call out to the readers of this blog who are familiar with Maya and importing things into Maya especially... Help!!!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Ok, so I'm very happy with this, it's fabulous, exquisite, and the most realistic cloth drapery I've seen yet. But I'm actually frustrated! This was supposed to be a large flowing veil! Look at it! It's not an elegant and exotic female garment!.... ok yeah it is. But it's not a veil and that's what I was trying to make! Darn wild creativity! So basically I didn't get anything off of my to do list, I just did another do.

Yes, I will simply answer that it is as nice as it looks, and is completely made out of sculpted prims except two or three normal ones as were needed. The cowl area is delicious, and has a sculpted neck piece that comes up under the chin, and it looks beautiful alone. The mask part is a modified Neenja mask with a front drape panel, to make it look like it's been wrapped around the back of the head without interfering with the hood. And the hood... Oh that's yummy. As you can see it's pretty cozy in there, and for most folks should be a pretty nice glare height. I made buying it as "male" or "female" an option, but really it's just the large and small versions. The male has a shorter, thicker neck and much broader shoulders, with a larger head, but obviously if your male avatar has a long neck and relatively slender shoulders, go with the female and just stretch. Please don't feel I'm emasculating you, I just want things to fit!

I got in touch with the owner of the marvelously extravagant Victorianna Castle, because she happens to be the owner of the Victorianna Doll Store. I have a policy in general against setting up vendors away from home, but I make exceptions if the theme is strictly adhered to and the stores are of good quality. It's a little nook of yummy victorian gothic girliness, the hub of Elegant Gothic Lolita, and it was sorely in need of my parasols and top hats. Apparently rent is free if she has the space and deems you worthy!! Huzzah!

That also leads me to something I will simply call "synchronicity requests". Often times I'm so focused on something I want to work on, that suddenly people will start asking me for it. People who have no idea I was planning on working on said thing, and who all say it within about 5 hours of each other. Here are what people have been asking about:Full burkha style face veils, multi layered and covering the head and shoulders... which was what that sexy piece of gothy goodness was supposed to be (but I love it anyway)A desperado hat, Zorro style, with a big wide brim that's all bad ass and stuffA beautiful and extravagant lady's hat with tons of fezzersand here's where the doll store comes in:Victorian inspired and historically inspired hair, in fabulous sculpted glory.

I guess i need to do some serious internet footwork for references!

I think, however, that with all of this stuff to do I might actually take some time for Real Life tomorrow. Food in the refrigerator and an emptied trash might be nice!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

I think you can imagine. 27,000 items of shopaholic love, alternate versions of creations, drafts, old vendors, new textures, fashion consolidated notices, snapshots, god the list goes on. And pretty much everyone knows this feeling! So there's just one thing that needs to be done. Organizing. So I've decided to hold my first little tea party!

Sorting your inventory doesn't have to be a horrible chore, when done with friends it can become a silly and ridiculously random walk down memory lane. Wondering where did you get that bright pink monkey that attaches to your nose and makes you dance? Remembering the awesome freebies at Hair Fair '07, various "phases" of clothing you went through at Barerose ("when was I into latex?"), organize that beast and then pass on your castaways to those who will love them. The wonderful thing about Second Life is that you don't have to worry about your Aunt Agatha's enormous size 28 dresses not fitting anyone.

So put on some silly clothes, a ridiculous "hat" (monkeys allowed), and come join some of your fellow fabulous people who frequent the Isle of Masks (you know who you are!) I'll be setting out the second best china (you think I trust you guys? ;) and some crumpets and cucumber sandwiches. I hope I'll see you there :)

For one thing, let it be known that when it comes to "ninja masks" I have been asked many times about them, where they are, and why the hell don't I have them, don't I know that that's what a real mask is and I have no right to wear the title Master Mask Maker while I have no ninja mask!!

Silly!

Part of this is because it is simply against my nature to provide said ninja mask. When given the choice between Pirates, Ninja or Jedi, my answer is obvious. But I was feeling silly and I was making an awful lot of sculpted prims today, so what the hell. I made a Neenja mask!!

I don't want anyone to be under any sort of impression that I take myself or anyone else too seriously. So I have named this mask after how I playfully say the word "ninja" when I'm making... well.. the face in that picture. And like a true neenja mask, it arrived suddenly and without notice!! (literally, I didn't send a group notice out... it's a stealthy mask like that). Because that is the soul of neenja. It's also just one silly prim and one silly texture, so it's just 20 silly lindens for the silly upload fee. Go forth and be neenja.

Speaking of silly... One fateful day Munchflower Zaius (of Nomine) told me she wanted a cowboy hat. "There are a lot of cowboy hats out there, Gritty Kitty has a very nice one that comes with hair" I said.
"But no," she said, "I want a Siyu one."
"Thppt!" I replied.

And then as if she had recruited a mob to do her bidding, or her lust for a siyutastic cowboy hat had entered the collected consciousness of my update group they called out "Siyu! Make a cowboy hat!"

Ok so you can see where I'm going with this. I feel like a puppet on strings!I made a cowboy hat. But not just any old cowboy hat... no. This one happens to be.. Siyutastic. It's sculpted, and comes in black or white, with your choice of the pin in gold or silver. Oh, and that's not all... you even have your choice of pin!!

I've made up five different pins for the front of the hat! Aren't these cool? A rose (naturally, because you know, I'm ME), a Sacred Heart, (a request from the Munch), a Jolly Roger (just plain old kickass), a sheriff star... (I don't know why), and the plain simple buckle for you purists out there.

At this time I would like to say how darn proud I am of the Sacred Heart. It's sculpted wings, feathers, heart, flame, make it completely awesome and beautiful, despite the fact that I'm really not religious. I'm also a fan of bringing info to the world... The heart itself symbolizes the divine and deep love of Jesus, which is very often just used as an image all on its own surrounded by light. The fire symbolizes fervor and passion, as well as "bringing the light of God". The coil wrapped around it is the "crown of thorns" that Christ wore on the cross, and the wings... well... the wings I guess aren't exactly "kosher" (hehe religious melange), but Munchflower wanted it based loosely on a tattoo on one of her skins. I guess it gets to flutter around and look pretty!

My personal favorite is the jolly roger. Expect to see that sucker around in some jewelry and maybe even some belts.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

I've been talking to Saeya Nyanda, who was a friend of a friend and is now my friend, as those things sometimes go, and she was telling me a bit about branding and marketing. She had some pretty nifty artwork associated with her own business (called Kyoot Army). I also did a little reading about attractive business graphics that gave the maximum amount of information with the maximum amount of aesthetic pleasingness. So those two things together decided to make me play a little with my own "branding".

Oh, and did I forget to mention I'm releasing two new hats? I did?

There, you can get a little taste of both an awesome hat, and the new branding I'm trying out :) I haven't implemented it yet, I'm still playing with it, and actually I'd love some feedback on it as some comments here. Some feedback already has been that it's more clear and easy to read, that the "modify" permission needed to be stated, and that it makes me look more like a professional. Oh, and that the rose and mask was perfect for my business. I totally agree ;)

Now, as for the hat! This may be a somewhat familiar hat, but it was the standard for a naval military man of rank, as was the elegant wig. The little pin on the side was called a "cockade", and could be used to signify anything from nationality, political leanings, or a servant's livery. In this case, it signifies our commodore's rank (wooo chevrons!). I even tried to get the number of chevrons right for Commodore (5), but if I'm wrong, blame Google.

But something tells me that this next hat is going to be the one folks want.
Arrrrr!! This be a pretty familiar hat! That be up thar the scurvy scallywag of the Boojum island, Kenn Szondi, who just happened to have a fully assembled pirate outfit that was absolutely perfect for this picture. And he was happy, that grin isn't faked, since he got a free hat out of it ^_^ That over-washed worn out leather texture took me absolutely forever, and I'm not lying when I say I have more drafts of that texture than any other. It has some simple stitched sides, and aside from the leather it's made out of it's a very cheap hat to make (theoretically speaking, obviously it wasn't actually since it cost me so much in upload fees). Only lucky pirates be rich!

Both of these hats are now available in the main store for 125L each, and I'll be reducing the prices of some of the other pirate stuff. I'll also be putting them into the new vendors, and oh! I now have a pirate wall! I got rid of that glass division, as it was just a little too far out of the normal path of traffic. It had been bugging me. I hope you enjoy! ^.^

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

I've been busy catching up to old old old commissions lately, some of them from a month ago. I tell ya, the advent of sculpted prims definitely kept me busy all through out June. So I don't really have much to show you, except I can happily say that my Geisha picture on Flickr is doing amazingly well. Flickr is a popular photo sharing community hosted by Yahoo, that allows you to make interest based groups and share pictures and other original work by you with people with similar interests. It shows you how many people have viewed it, and how many have "favorited" it, which means they've saved it for viewing again. My average picture, if it's interesting and artistic, has about 150 views and maybe 4 favorites. Already, Geisha has 63 views and 12 favorites... which to my knowledge is just unheard of... It totally deserves it.

Since I don't have much recent work to show you (although I have been working, I just don't have the proof), I've decided to share a couple of the art pieces I've done in Flickr on my blog... because I really am very proud of them.

To set them up, my friend Selos Dae (who did the Geisha skins, and who I reviewed for "Feline Groovy" has been working on a customized skin for me. Sometimes, for the absolute fun of it, my avatar likes to be bald. I imagine her using veet and powdering her head, and her face and bone structure looks absolutely wonderful and exotic without hair. But I get this a lot "Hey Siyu, your hair hasn't rezzed, might want to refresh". And I'm getting sick of saying "It's a lifestyle choice! What have you got against bald women! Baldist!" I also think that if one has the face for it, being bald is a beautiful, unique and very sexy look for (some) women. So to just emphasize that yes, I do mean to be bald, and don't I look damn sexy, I have asked Selos to make me a skin with beautiful and intricate head tattoos. She did... and it's delicious. I didn't wear hair for several days, and it inspired me to take some beautiful and exotic pictures.

This is the first I took, a transcendant picture caught in the middle of a beautiful Sine Wave dance, and I was very happy with it.... but then I got the itching for another photoshoot...This one I just love. I doctored it up a bit to bring out the colors and the contrast and to make it really feel like a brilliant sunset viewed through a silk curtain. It feels almost like an Arabian princess gazing out over the Mediterranean. The dark isn't something I do often, and it just makes this picture have so much depth and reality. Plus... lighting effects are just yummy.

I'd never shave my hair off entirely in my first life, I imagine my head would be cold and rather shiny, and I doubt I'd look anywhere near as good as Siyu does. But for me, that's what dressing up in Second Life is all about... getting to try things you've always dreamed of but never would actually/possibly do to yourself!

Sunday, July 8, 2007

It's been a while since the first release of my new sculpted masks, the Civetta and Columbina. They were released with beautiful embellishments, and since then, people have asked why I haven't just set out the plain mask. Well... it wasn't perfect. And I can't set out anything not perfect.

Well, anything I know to be imperfect.

So the masks went back to the drawing board, to undergo many many permutations, and about 15 drafts of sculpted prim, little tweaking... and I've even discovered a way to boost the detail. And so I am very proud to offer you the new, improved, plain Civetta and Columbina.

"'Civetta' in Italian literally means "owl", and these masks are called that in reference to their similarity to the large round "ear disks" around an owl's eyes. This mask comes down around the cheeks and is the ultimate unisex mask, as it has not the slightest hint of gender association. Isn't that marvelous?"

This picture is just so yummy. Yes it's me again, being a crazy transvestite... but dayem! I'm actually wearing a female skin for this, I couldn't find a good male one and hey, I look pretty. Those stunning eyes are by Miriel Enfield, in a preview she passed me because she knew I'd absolutely adore them (and I totally do). The hair is the Dauphin wig from here.

"The Columbina name reflects the shape of the mask, as masks that cover the nose yet don't cover the cheeks are normally the signature of a Commedia Del'Arte character named Columbina. She is a flirtatious and savvy little wench who is most famous for her intelligence and her biting wit. The mask is intended for a woman only by character, because it looks just as good on a man."

The hair is the incredibly fabulous Antoinette style by Curl Up and Dye, and is the one and only reason I haven't made my own... this one is just too wonderful. And in this picture you can see some of the improvement I've made to the shape of the masks. The transition into the mesh around the eyes is smoother, and the sides are much more polished with a smooth taper.

They're both available in 11 different colors, shown in this nifty board here:And have I mentioned the best part? I've set them out at just 75L each!

Last night, I was supposed to DJ a party for a friend of mine, BoobooKittie Haight who runs Catwalk City... but it turns out it was canceled! So here I was, with a stream, and 300L to get out of it. So what the hell, I put out a group chat invitation to any folks online in Masqueraderie to come on down to the Indigo Rose in your finest Piratey garb and I'd play whatever darn music I felt like.

Folks had fun XD I got to play music all night long, launch fireworks and organize my inventory while hanging out with some very awesome people :)

So today was a bit more for inventory sorting, until I got a note in Fashion Consolidated announcing Deviant Kitties' new hair style, based off of one of good friends's skins, Selos Dae. I reviewed her skins in my "Feline Groovy", and since then we've become very good friends, and she's even working on a gorgeous tattooed skin for me (I'm wearing a draft of that in that picture). She was watching lots of Geisha stuff and got inspired, and she had dropped a whole bunch of gorgeous geisha skins on me. Since I'm not normally a big fan of red, I tried them on, thought they were pretty and then switched back to the good ol' monochrome. With Helyanwe's new hair though... I was inspired to play dress up. And when one plays dress up.... one takes pictures.

There are a lot of pieces of "SL Art" that I create in screen shots and photoshop, and post on Flickr that I don't post here. But I absolutely had to share these with the world.Beauty... modesty... the perfect picture of an elegant geisha... 07/07/07 is supposed to be a very lucky day... and it certainly was mine to get that capture. And yet that one pales in comparison to this:

Go ahead. Stare. And then put me on the cover for the next printing of Memoirs of a Geisha. This is the picture that at the moment I'm not even sure how I took. And click on it to see it larger!! She looks like a painting...

Friday, July 6, 2007

If anything were going to cement me forever as the person to go to for roses, this would be it.

The simple, the elegant, the versatile, the immortal hair rose. And just to be both vicious and generous, I've made them 65L, less than half of the prices of my other competitors. Take that!! Muahaha!! Rar!!! and other such expressions of playful aggression XD

These make perfect gifts, beautiful accessories, and elegant additions to any outfit. Yummy :)

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Happy 4th! Which to many people means absolutely nothing, but for us Yankees over in the good ol' US of A it means time to break out the fireworks and put on the most obnoxiously patriotic garb imaginable. For my part, since it is a holiday, and I do have a silly habit of giving out holiday freebies... here is yours. A nationally ambiguous red, white and blue mask, so you can re-use it for Bastille Day, or any of the 22 other countries (including Cambodia and the Czech Republic) and whatever national holidays they might have that involve wearing said colors ^.^

I marked this day in other ways by holding a fun, informal fireworks session (using Cubeos Boffin's fireworks system, the only bunch of fireworks worth spending money on) in the skies over the Indigo Rose, which was fun and dancey ^.^

I also did a couple of random things that are group related: I created a group called "Gods of Illusions" for the people who have bought my Ltd Edition God masks. I found I kept on wanting to ask them questions, and rather than IM random people, I figured it'd be easier to just get them all into a group. And I think I might make it mandatory if you buy one. Rar! (lol, like I could enforce that). I also finally changed the name of the "every member" role for my main group (Masqueraderie). "Mask Afficionado" is all well and good, but it's very stuffy and doesn't roll out of the mouth nicely. I shortened it and changed it to the desirable and rather clever "Illusionist". Now folks might actually be inclined to show their allegiance to my store through a rather snappy and self aggrandizing title ^.^ So far it's been a hit!

I also ended up giving myself a rather high-falutin' title as the owner and maker of the Gods of Illusions group... heh, I called myself the "Creator of Creators", because hey, what else would you call someone who makes gods? It may be a little cocky... but I just won't wear it around town ;)

I've been working on various colors and a new permutation of the civetta and columbina masks, I found a way to milk more detail out of the 1024 polygons provided, and so far it's been working beautifully! There are, as always, little things that serve to irritate and annoy me enough to prevent its release, but they're being worked on :)

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Today has just been a day for surprising my update group and getting things done. I've gotten some pretty fun things done today!!

For one, I have re-released Suleika with new veil textures and plugged it into the new vendor, ZOMG you can now get any color you like, rather than having to buy it in a full color pack!

Yeah it's still the same picture, it's just too darn pretty. But this one has words. Yeah. I changed the scarf texture but not enough to be an issue. I also made an extremely awesome color board, with stone samples and scarf samples so you can see exactly what you're getting ^.^

But really this post is all about one thing. One thing that is sure to steal the show, anywhere you go, and any where it's seen. It's divine, it's ridiculous, it's larger than life and it's just too much. It had to be done, and it had to be done by me. I've made the Mad Hatter's Hat.

This picture brings such a big grin to my face!!

Sculpted and with a flexi feather... This thing is just outrageous in the best sense of the word. I wanted a sort of gothic vibe to it, and black and white are absolutely classic. When I announced it to my update group I sold 5 in about 3 minutes, because they are just THAT irresistable. If you're wondering about the 10/6 on the card tucked into the brim, it means ten shillings and six pence, which was the average price of a hat back then. So essentially the Mad Hatter still has his price tag on. Don't worry though, I haven't made it 1060L, and 106L would just be unfair to me :( But it's 275 and includes the matching bowtie.... The term "Mad as a Hatter" actually comes from a very common occurence of the time. Many milliners worked with mercury when curing the felt of their hats, and the mercury poisoning would cause delusions, hallucinations, distorted speech and vision and all around kooky things that would be lumped under the term of "madness". But I took the Mad Hatter hat as an invitation to just be eccentric, ridiculous, and a tad macabre.

I've also finally released the Victorian Parasol I mentioned way way way way way back when. Remember that? I fixed the issues it was having after I sent it away to be scripted.

So here it is again, available for just 125L :) It opens and closes on touch, has an animation override to keep it on your shoulder, and simply is the perfect accessory for any gothic or victorian outfit. Especially cute little EGLoli's ^.^

Monday, July 2, 2007

Releasing a new bauta! This one is just a single, sculpted prim, for the most ridiculously customizable fit imaginable. It can be squashed, stretched, smushed, flattened, anything you need for it to fit your face like it was made for it. It was/is the most popular type of mask worn during Carnivale, and was designed so that one could eat or drink without having to take it off. It is also my interpretation of the "male version" of the Domino, despite the fact that it was worn by both men and women. (Hint hint, even though it was made for a man, I've been wearing it around). It was more than just a mask, it was used like the Domino to hide your identity, or even your social status. If you wanted to forget about social protocol and hang loose with the commoners for an evening, it could be done! It's unique shape could even could disguise the voice! Not only that, but it was also the equivalent of a ski mask/balaclava in those days and could be used to hide the identity of many criminals. Hence the title of this post: supposedly a man wearing a bauta assassinated Mozart!

The bauta is traditionally associated with the tricorn hat and a large flowing over garment that drapes around the mask... but attempts at that didn't turn out so pretty, and I really wanted to make a cloak just for the men. I also wanted to show off the new hair I made...

After a sad search all around Second Life for clothing suitable to wear for that picture up there, I found only TWO Georgian Coats and absolutely no suitable hair! So since I delight in making that which has been neglected, unloved, or un-noticed, here is the Dauphin powdered wig. Frankly, I find my male avatar the most handsome he's ever been, and extremely distinguished! It especially looks extremely dashing from the back. I also know that not every modern man will enjoy the Dandy look, so I have a blonde, black, and brunette version. In case you can't see, it has a fun trailing pony tail with some flexi. Some people call Second Life hair wigs, since your avatar is bald underneath... but now, you can have a REAL wig.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

He's been a long time coming... the Egyptian falcon god and son of Osiris, Horus.

My mask, my ode to Horus, is the final mask in my Egyptian Gods series. He wears the double crown of Egypt as the patron god of the pharaohs and the son of THE pharaoh, Osiris. The cobra on the crown was called the Uraeus Serpent, which symbolized royalty, and divine authority. It was believed to protect the wearer by spitting holy fire at enemies! (I wonder if the occassion ever came to try and prove that?) So there are tiny little red spinel's in his eyes. The gold framed carnelian disc at Horus's forehead is a symbol of the sun, and is framed by wings, as he was the god of the sun and the sky.

As the son of Osiris, he was considered part of the royal family and also became identified with the pharaoh himself. The "Eye Of Ra" is actually the eye of Horus, as Egyptian falcons actually have a pattern extremely similar to the dark outline and drop down mark so associated with Egypt. Supposedly, Horus lost one of his eyes in his battle against Set for the throne of Egypt, but for the sake of symmetry this mask is obviously before that... As a god of the sky and a god of the sun, he became associated with Ra, even though Horus was Ra's father... so oddly enough Ra became his own father and son. Crazy Egyptians!

His head and beak are sculpted prims, as well as an armor piece I decided to throw in because it looks so darn nifty. It's been such a long time coming, because I have been so unsure how to make a sculpted prim mask fit with its mates, Bast and Anubis. I feel I finally was able to get the balance :)

I have gotten more IM's about Anubis than any other thing I've ever done or ever made. So if you noticed, in honor of him, I've made a reprise of the headdress design as an homage. I hope this will satisfy those who missed their chances the first time around... but if you miss Horus, you're out of luck.

As with the first two masks, only ten will be sold, and each at 5000L. He comes with the Egyptian Emperor's Collar (shown in the picture), and a marble display head. They are available through IM to me only, that is, an IM or notecard sent to Siyu Suen. They are first come first serve, so don't tarry, don't delay, time stamps do count!

I really do love doing the Egyptian gods, as it gives me an excuse to make creature masks and then have people actually wear them! My creature/animal masks haven't been big sellers in the past, so doing a series of Egyptian gods could give me a chance to do all the animals I felt like (as long as they were indiginous to Northern Africa). However, thinking about it... there are three gods I always think of when I think of Egypt, and three is a very good number (one of my lucky ones). So I've decided, and I'm solid on this: This is my last Egyptian god.

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